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Experience vs. new blood in GOP race

ATLANTA -- The choice is between experience and new blood in the Republican primary for labor commissioner.

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Key Dates:

Aug. 19 -- Voter registration deadline for special election

Aug. 20 -- Primary election

Sept. 10 -- Runoff election (if needed)

Sept. 17 -- Special election

Oct. 7 -- Voter registration deadline for general election

Nov. 5 -- General election

Nov. 26 -- Runoff election (if needed)

Richard McGee was a deputy labor commissioner from 1993-97, when he resigned to run as a Democrat for the top job. After he lost the Democratic primary, he resisted party pressure to endorse Michael Thurmond, who not only won the nomination but also became commissioner.

The 62-year-old McGee said the political pressure convinced him to switch to the GOP for his second run.

If elected, he intends to step up investigations of people fraudulently collecting unemployment checks as a way to save employers money on their unemployment-tax premiums. He also plans to eliminate duplication in the 53 regional offices run by the Department of Labor.

McGee thinks the benefit period is long enough for unemployment checks, but he is willing to consider a slightly higher amount. But training is a priority for him, saying that redirecting some of the 4,000 employees in the department would result in more worker training without added costs to taxpayers.

''We need to go about that business of training the work force,'' McGee said. ''I think most of that job loss is due to the lack of a trained work force.''

On the other side is Brent Brown, a first-time candidate who has been involved with Republican politics for years. Brown said he'll bring a fresh, small-business perspective to the Labor Department.

For 42 months, he was an executive in two companies, managing 70 employees in the larger firm before it was stung in the dot-com collapse. To run for office, he stepped down from the presidency of Landmark Publishing, an Atlanta company that markets the images of universities' logos for use on toys and sportswear.

Brown, 31, plans to build a management team to compensate for any experience or expertise he lacks. Then, he wants to make the department more dynamic and cooperative with other state agencies that woo employers to the state and train workers.

''It's not just the three R's any more. We now have a fourth R, and that's computers,'' he said.

Brown also wants a law passed giving him a seat on the state Board of Education to cement the cooperation between the departments of education and labor.

He doesn't favor raising the unemployment benefit, but does want the department to help illegal aliens legitimize their status.

The winner between the two will face the victor in the Aug. 20 Democratic primary, as well as Libertarian William Costa, in the November general election.